He's 33, good-looking and rich. But that is not enough. Jon Asgeir Johannesson - the charismatic Icelandic businessman trying to buy Arcadia - wants the world. His ambition is to be an international retail superstar.

If the divorced father of three gets his way, US mall princesses will soon be sampling Topshop and Miss Selfridge. That country, he believes, will lap up Arcadia's two cheesy, yet vibrant, youth brands. Europe, he says, is a target, too.

Youth, Johannesson believes, is the passport to untold riches. 'They like to look the same,' said a close friend. 'If you look at the examples of what brands work, it's the young ones.'

There's just one problem: his advisers admit he hasn't yet got the finance in place for what could be a £570 million takeover. Johannesson's Baugur company is just a sixth the size of Arcadia. Rumours suggest some family money will be backed by institution funds - a risky proposition as consumer confidence buckles. Those close to Johannesson say an indicative offer will not come this week. But it is possible a firm bid will be tabled within a fortnight.

Even the prospect of a retail slowdown should be no obstacle for Johannesson. The informally dressed workaholic, who rarely takes a weekend off, has come a long way in the 13 years since he left college. From one discount store in Reykjavik, funded by a £5,000 loan and the same sum in savings, Johannesson and his father became Iceland's biggest retailers.

The business grew quickly through mergers, and within five years Johannesson was running a quoted Icelandic company. In the process his father became a consumer champion, offering the retailing public cheap prices in what is one of the most expensive countries in the world.

Nowadays, such is Baugur's size and dominance, it has encountered criticism from Icelanders that its prices are too high and that it stifles competition.

The family built up a retail empire in Iceland and America, with 475 stores in 15 formats, encompassing supermarkets, convenience stores and pharmacies. Thanks to a £21m purchase of US discounter Bills Dollar Stores, Johannesson's company is fifth in the US nickel 'n' dime league.

They are successful investors too. Johannesson started building up his current 20 per cent stake in Arcadia when its shares were just 35p. At Friday's close, buoyed by takeover possibilities, those shares stood at 265p. Since October last year, when Baugur first started buying Arcadia shares, a takeover approach was always likely. But it was the appointment of Stuart Rose as the retailer's chief executive in November that delayed the approach.

The Icelander was content to let Rose jettison Warehouse, Principles, Wade Smith and Racing Green. That sale was completed earlier this month for £20m to a management buyout. The predator was further kept in check by encouraging Christmas figures last year.

Johannesson is said to live 'reasonably modestly', despite his penchant for designer labels. You're more likely to find him wearing T-shirts than suits to business meetings. His friends say he has no time for hobbies, although he loves to go skiing and snowboarding.

Johannesson once said he started working behind the till aged six and that retailing is in his blood. Friends say he is driven by the desire to accumulate money and the need for recognition.

Johannesson has already engineered franchise agreements with Debenhams and Zara as well as Arcadia to sell their clothes.

His advisers say the acquisition of Arcadia is an 'expansion play, not a restructuring'. But all plans centre on Miss Selfridge and Topshop. Officially he has no plans to sell the remainder - Dorothy Perkins, Burton, Evans and Wallis. But analysts argue that Burton - hard-pressed in the cutthroat mid-market - and Evans, the store for generously proportioned ladies, could be cut out.

If that happens, it would represent the demise of what was once one of Britain's biggest retail conglomerates.

More to Iceland than Björk...

* The 280,000 inhabitants of Iceland enjoy the fifth-highest standard of living in the world, with per capita income of $30,575 in 2000. They are fourth in the world's mobile phone league.

* Some 93 per cent of Icelanders live in towns; only 0.15 per cent of the land is arable.

* Marine products (mostly fish) constitute more than 70 per cent of Iceland's exports of goods in value.

* Iceland's exported goods were worth US$1.926bn in 1998, but imports were $2.5bn. Its largest single customer is the UK (19.7 per cent)

* Unemployment fell from 5 per cent in 1995 to 2 per cent in 1999.

* Reykjavik is the world's most northerly capital.

* The warmest Reykjavik gets is 11 centigrade in August.

* Only Japan is a more expensive country to live in. A pint of beer in Iceland costs £5.